One Year Younger
by crimeson-plasma
Summary: Both brilliant wizards are completing their seventh year at Hogwards, but Grindelwald is hiding something. Dumbledore wants to find what it is. Will their broken friendshp mend, and grow into something more? An AU, Dumbledore is one year younger.
1. Chapter 1

I'm aware that I shouldn't be starting another story after being so much time without updating my other two. I'm very sorry! Things have been quite difficult during this time and I couldn't really find any motivation to write. I promise that I will update soon! Anyways, This is my first Harry Potter fanfic, soit is bound to have OOCness. I will try and correct that in the future. It has been over a year since I last read the 7th book. So I don't remember this scene clearly. Please forgive me for any inaccuracies. By the way, in this fanfic Dumbledore and Gellert will be one year younger. Meaning that Dumbledore just finished his 6th year in Hogwards (but he turned 17 during the summer). The same goes for Gellert.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. It belongs to J.K. Rowling

I closed up my eyes. I could feel a tear forming on one of them, prepared to drop any moment now. How had this all happened? It seemed so surreal. It seemed like an impossible situation, like a bad dreams. Like one of those that had haunted me these last months since the death of my mother, and the drastic change of my life. Ariana laid dead before me. Her eyes still open from the shock she had had when she saw the curse reflect towards her. Beside her was Aberforth, crying, I suppose. With his head buried on Ariana's now still stomach. He made no noises. I wiped the tear that was now falling down through my cheek and looked up at the other teen, before me.

He looked... scared. Something strange. I ignored that, or more accurately, didn't notice. I was being blinded by my anger. "Albus I-I" I heard him start saying with his thick German accent, not being able to stop himself stuttering. "Get out" I hissed. I did not want to see him or hear anything from him again. He could die for all that I cared. He opened his mouth again, but quickly closed it again. He was probably decided whether to get out of the house at that moment or continuing to apologize. He decided to try and apologize. I didn't really know why. "Albus, I did-" He started saying again. This time without stuttering. He seemed determined to leave things clear. To get me to accept his apology. Why? I don't know. Was he unable to realise that this was now all broken? That things would never be the same again? "Get out!" I shouted, interrupting him again. He looked at me, surprised or scared. I did not know which. He started walking backwards, trying to remain as impassive as he could manage. I heard the front door open some moments later, after what had seemed like an eternity. "Get out" I said again, with a mixture of anger and sadness. Sadness that I didn't know why it was caused. I soon heard the door close.

I standed still during a few seconds, not knowing what to do, say or think. I was blank. On one side I wanted to comfort Aberforth, to tell him that everything would be alright and that I would immediately deal with Gellert. Hexing him into oblivion. On the other one, I wanted to run outside to forgive him. To tell him that I wanted us to continue being friends. I continued standing still. Not knowing what to do. The few thoughts that I had were interrupted by Aberforth, who started crying loudly. I placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Aberforth, don't worry, everything will be alright" I said. He immediately stared at me, with a way of looking that seemed like he was trying to burn two holes on my head. "How do you dare!" He shouted, very angry. Tears were streaming down his face. "Aberforth, I..." I started saying, but stopped. Not knowing how to continue. "How do you dare!" He shouted again, this time louder than the time before. I could just look at him. I didn't know what to say. "This is all your fault!" He said, before sobbing again. He had always been the one who was the closest to Ariana, after all. "This was all your fault!" He said again "It has all happened because you befriended that... murderer. You did it knowing that he was a bad person. That he couldn't be trusted! You knew this and yet you ignored it!" He shouted. He suddenly got up, and started running towards the stairs that led to the top floor, with ou rooms. "It is all your fault! I hate you!" I heard him say as he went up. I could say nothing again. I could not move. I could not think. I wasn't brave enough to go upstairs or go outside to try and make things all right. I was a coward and I just remained there, staring at Ariana, the door and the stairs, letting fate decide what to do. I fell on my knees and I started crying. For my mother, for Ariana, for Aberforth, for Gellert... for my life. That now was broken and destryed. For my even more shattered heart.


	2. Chapter 2

Here is the new chapter! I hope you enjoy it! I'll explain what ages exactly Dumbledore and Grindelwald will have in this fanfic, since I just finished calculating them. As I said before Dumbledore will be one year younger, but Grindelwald will still be born in the year he was born. Tis means that Dumbledore will be born in 1882 instead of 1881. Grindelwald will be born in 1883. Both of them will be going to their 7th year in Hogwarts. I wanted to place them in the same year, so Dumbledore's birthday will be on the first days of september, and Grindelwald's will be in early 1883. I apologize again for any spelling mistakes and for OOCness. I hope to eliminate them in time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does

I spent the what was left of summer in my house, not talking to anyone unless it was strictly necessary. I was all day wandering around the house, like a ghost, while my brother remained locked up in his room. We didn't talk to each other, not even when preparing food to eat. He didn't even look at me in the eyes. Bathilda had been very supportive to us, bringing us food and other things. Behaving as if she was our only family left. In a sense it was true. When I went outside of the house to get some supplies or other things I tried to act as normally as I could, which was increasingly difficult to do. My friend Elphias still hadn't returned from the summer trip I wasn't able to go to. I was glad in a sense, it would be harder to go on as if nothing had happened if he was here. I know that Gellert was still here, I had seen him several times walking around, but I had never talked to him since the death of my sister. he hadn't either. We were both avoiding the other desperately.

I lazily opened my eyes, and got up from my bed, tired. I had barely got any sleep this last night, or during any of the ones before, due to having nightmares every time I got some sleep. I closed my eyes, momentarily blinded by the bright morning sun. I quickly got changed and went out of my bedroom to get some breakfast. I entered the kitchen, and saw that Aberforth was already eating his breakfast at a steady pace. I quickly prepared myself something to eat, and sat on the table. In front of my brother. "Good morning" I said, trying to ease the uncomfortable aura that had set itself at the kitchen. It had been like this for the last three weeks. "Bathilda called" I heard my brother say several minutes after I had talked, once he had finished his breakfast. "Oh?" I said, while raising my head to look at him, abandoning the toast that I had been eating. "She said that she would take us today to Diagon alley, so she could help us get what we need for our new year in Hogwarts" He said. "Okay, I'll get ready then" I said. My brother left the room. I stared at space. I had completely forgotten about going to Hogwarts since the end of my sixth year. This would be my last year there. After it I would be able to do whatever I wanted to do. A small smile formed on my lips, I wanted to get to Hogwarts already and learn new things. I got up from the kitchen chair, cleaned the plates and left for my room to get my wand and several other things that I would need when going to Diagon Alley.

-Some hours later-

I heard some knocks on the door. "Albus, Aberforth. Are you ready?" I heard Bathilda say from outside the house. "Aberforth! Bathilda is here!" I told my brother as I opened the door, just as he came running down the old wooden stairs. I smiled to her. "Good morning" I said. She smiled back and said the same thing, "Good morning, Albus, Aberforth". She then remained quiet while looking at us. "I assume that you're ready?" She asked. Aberforth and I nodded at the same time, and we both went out of the house. Closing the door behind us. "Dears, go to my house. We will apparate from there to Diagon Alley." She told us. I nodded. "Lets go" I told my brother. We started walking towards Bathilda's house, with her leading the way. I noticed a familiar blond sitting on a small wooden chair in front of the house. Our eyes met for a moment, but both of us soon looked another way, trying to pretend that the other one wasn't in front of them. "Gellert, dear, let's go inside the house. It's time that we go to buy necessary things in Diagon Alley" Bathilda said as she entered the house. I saw my old friend nod, before going into the house.

Once we were all in Bathilda's house, more precisely in her living room, she told us to grab each other's hands so we could apparate to Diagon Alley. We all did that, and soon we were in the middle of a very busy Diagon Alley. There were many wizard families going in and out of many shops. I could easily recognize many of the people who I shared classes with buying their new textbooks and new material. I immediately noticed Hesper Starky, a girl from my year, trying to convince her parents to buy her a new cauldron for her potions class. I greeted her, but she didn't respond me. There were too many people and she was determined on getting a new cauldron. "Albus". I turned my head around and looked at Bathilda. "I will go with your brother to get his new textbooks, and yours too. Could you go with my great-nephew Gellert so he can get some of the things he needs? He has a list, so you will have problem in finding them. You know Diagon Alley well, after all" Bathilda told me. "Of course I will" I immediately answered. "We will meet here in about three hours" She told me before leaving with Aberforth, both talking. I looked at Gellert, cursing my luck. Why did I have to go with him? I was sure that he would be able to get all the things he needed on his own. "So..." I started saying. He looked at me, clearly surprised that I had started talking. "What do you exactly need?" I asked. He immediately got a list out of his pocket. It wasn't too long, but it wasn't short either. "These things" He said as he handed me the list, with a thick german accent. I quickly read it. "Four robes, a cauldron, a quill and several ingredients and things for your classes" I said out loud as I read the list. He nodded. "Do you know where to find them?" He asked politely. I looked at him. "Of course I do!" I immediately answered "Do you have enough Galleons?" I asked him. He nodded, and answered that his aunt had given him enough to buy all the things he needed. "Follow me then" I said, as I started walking through the streets to reach Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions shop. I sighed. "I hope this is over soon" I thought as I entered the shop, Gellert following me. -three and a half hours later- I looked around, trying to find Bathilda in between all the people walking through Diagon Alley. Three hour, or more, had passed since we had arrived, and we had already finished buying everything that we needed. We were currently sitting on a bench on a side of the road, both of us quiet. "A month ago it wouldn't have been like that" I thought as I stared into the sky. I had met quite a lot of my schoolmates while buying the things that we both needed. The Black family, the Longbottom family, the Weasley family and the Gaunt family and some other people I knew. I sighed. I didn't like meeting many people from the school before it started. "So you will be going to Hogwarts this year?" I asked Gellert outloud. It had been quite a surprise for me. I had thought that he would be going back to Germany in September. "Ja" Gellert said. "I have to go to Hogwarts, I was expelled from Durmstrang after all, you know that" He said. I nodded. It shouldn't have surprised me, but it had nonetheless. The only other school he could go to as Hogwarts. We both remained quiet until Bathilda and my brother came back, in an uncomfortable silence. We didn't know what to say, or what to do. We just remained sitting on the bench. Sometime later Bathilda finally arrived. "Sorry for the delay, there were quite a lot of people buying" She said. I got up. "Don't worry about that, we didn't have to wait much" I said. She looked at the three of us. "Do you want to eat something now? It is getting a bit late" She asked. I wasn't too hungry, even if it was 1:30 pm. I shook my head, and immediately said that I would eat later. Aberforth did the same thing. Geller on the other hand told his aunt that he would like to get something to drink. Bathilda smiled and gave him a few galleons. I looked at him as he went towards the Leaky Cauldron, which was near where we currently were at. "Don't take too long!" I heard Bathilda say. As Gellert entered the Leaky Caundron I noticed that he greeted an unknown wizard, that wispered something to him on his ear and gave him a piece of paper. "Who is he? and what did he give him?" I asked myself. Gellert shouldn't know anyone in Diagon Alley at all, he had spent all summer at Godric's Hollow after all. I looked at his great aunt and at my brother. Neither of them had noticed that Gellert had been given that piece of paper. Gellert reappeared some minutes later, and gave his great aunt the Galleons that had been left over from what he had bought. Bathilda smiled and we all apparated back into her house. I went to my house with my brother, to sort out our things for when we would be going back to Hogwarts in less than a week. 


End file.
